How to Love the Alien and Fight Bureaucratization: Paternalism over Partnership

Temptation 3: Paternalism over Partnership

In my own experience in aid work and in conversation with many veteran colleagues, the heavy sociological question arises: Is aid colonial?

The answer: sure, it can be—but it doesn’t have to be.

For instance, there is a perception among some recipients and even some aid workers that many relief and development agencies are tools of the developed West (and their donors), pushing a Western agenda at the expense of suffering people. Such a perception is hard to fight. Rich countries are needed to supply the budget for such organizations, and most of these rich countries are indeed in the West. As a result, they will always be condemned for pulling strings, even when they are not and even when the strings they pull are not bad.

To be fair, plenty of veteran aid organizations truly were colonial in their early days—as were many NGOs and church assistance bodies in their infancy. Even today, some NGOs’ expat staff are paid more than indigenous staff. There is certainly some benefit to having internationals in the upper echelons of aid organizations instead of only locals—if UNRWA, for instance, was run entirely by Palestinians and no Swedes or Japanese or Americans, it would be much easier for the world to forget about them altogether—but projects aimed at serving the down-and-out cannot fall into the trap of othering and down-and-outing even within their own structure.

Just as mission work was at some times and in some places an instrument of colonialism, so too humanitarian aid can be the same—a kind of Manifest Destiny, “civilizing mission,” an “ethical policy.” Historically, colonizers often looked at missionaries as allies, especially when they were subsidized by the state.[1]

Church aid work mustn’t be the pawn of the state. It must safeguard against the temptations of colonialism. It is always best for aid agencies—the Church above all—to act as a partner to refugees and local organizations, rather than paternalistically. Church aid must not be corporatized or NGO-ized the way much of its 19^th century mission work was. Such a path resulted in losses in partnership with the people the Church was trying to reach.

The way for the Church and other organizations to emphasize partnership, not paternalism, is to 1) listen, 2) practice what it preaches, 3) be transparent, 4) be local, and 5) befriend.

Listen: The Church must listen to refugees and those who already live among them—host communities and homegrown partner organizations. It must learn lessons in that listening and take the lessons to heart. We should not presume we in the West or even in the Church have all the answers. The best way to find the answers is to ask!

Practice What We Preach: Humanitarian aid from the Church preaches the gospel fruits of peace, justice, and mercy. It must live out those values too. This means making peace within organizations and among partners, just as we seek peace in warzones. It means fighting against an imbalance of payments between Western workers and locals. And it means having grace for frustrated migrants, overworked partner organizations, overwhelmed local governments, and for itself.

Be Transparent: As much as NGOs want to advertise their work to donors, some do their best also to hide how they spend their money. The Church’s response to refugeeism should be translucent. It should tell refugees, partners, and other NGOs what it’s doing and how it’s doing it. It should make budgets and financial reports public. Such openness reduces corruption and colonialism while breeding trust and partnership.

Be Local: Hire locals. Hire refugees! Who better to guide the Church in serving the displaced of the world than those who know the bitter reality firsthand. Planning for humanitarian aid should not happen from an office in New York or Ottawa, but from ground zero.

Befriend: The most important piece of being a partner and not paternal is to come alongside refugees as neighbors and as friends. During the World Missionary Conference held in Scotland in 1910, a brave attendee from India, V.S. Azariah, spoke out about the transformation he wanted to see in international missions. “You have given your goods to feed the poor,” he said. “You have given your bodies to be burned. We also ask for love. Give us friends.”[2]

I make the same plea for the Church’s response to refugeeism. Give aid well, yes. Give money, resources, guidance, encouragement, our very lives. But if we give all that, how much more effective a witness and a true reflection of the gospel to also give friendship.

And to receive it!

[1] Ibid.

[2] Trent Sheppard. God on Campus: Sacred Causes & Global Effects. IVP Books. 2009. p. 102.